Fargo man gets 10 years on attempted murder, other charges after acting as own attorney

FARGO – A Fargo man was sentenced Monday morning to 10 years in prison after he represented himself in a trial earlier this year on attempted murder and other charges.

Damon John White Bird, 23, represented himself at trial and at Monday’s sentencing in Cass County District Court.

Cass County prosecutor Tristan Van de Streek asked the judge to sentence White Bird to 20 years on the felony A attempted murder, plus five years supervised probation on that and four other accompanying charges.

White Bird was convicted of locking two men in his apartment here and attacking them with a sword and a table leg April 2.

Van de Streek told Judge Wickham Corwin that one of the victims spent 27 days in the hospital and had to have part of his skull replaced with titanium mesh.

Van de Streek said in court his recommendation was an extraordinarily harsh one, but that society needed to be protected from White Bird.

“Mr. White Bird is someone we should be scared of,” he said.

When Corwin asked White Bird for his sentencing recommendation, White Bird responded, “Let’s just get this done so I don’t have to look at you or none of you guys.”

White Bird told the court he plans to appeal his conviction and sentence.

Corwin sentenced White Bird to 10 years, plus five years supervised probation on one count of aggravated assault and two counts of felonious restraint, all C felonies, and one A misdemeanor count of tampering with physical evidence.